Charles Barrie

BSc (Ecology), MDes

Community Development and Landscape Design Facilitator

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Charles is a self-employed community development and landscape design facilitator specialising in community resilience, environmental education and ecological restoration. He spends most of his time supporting people to grow food and care for streams in Te Aro, Owhiro Bay and Porirua, and is currently developing a community horticulture school in which students can achieve Unit Standards in horticulture through supporting the development of community spaces which are good for plants and good for people.

With a background in ecology, landscape construction, environmental education and community work, Charles has spent much of the last 10 years exploring ways to support sustainable relationships between people and place and investigating the nature of 'ecological design'.

Supported by the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities, Charles completed a Masters in Design from Victoria University investigating how community development principles can be integrated into the design process of public or shared landscapes in an approach which could be termed 'deep design'. At the core of his thesis and current work is the community-led restoration of Wellington's Owhiro Stream, and the development of public spaces and engagements which allow people to engage with the stream, participate in the work, and celebrate their own culture and passions without compromising its ecological restoration.

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Barrie C.The emergence of collective dreams: An exploration of community development based collaborative landscape designVictoria University of Wellington thesis, 2012Download or view online